Today I broke my fast early (8:30). The late May sun was still warming the earth when I took my first sip of water and ate a date. I am traveling tomorrow–you don’t fast when you travel–but was not feeling well today and decided I really need my strength for an important task I have to perform on Saturday. I am hoping god will be okay with the adjustment.

I came to understand one of the reasons I appreciate this fasting is that it is ordered and orderly; there’s a way to do it. This year, as I’ve grown a little in my understanding of the processes and principles of the fast, I find it to be another way I can order my dy; that my day is not complete until I’ve done it. Like my morning and evening journal writing and my morning meditation–these things are ordered and routine. At times when my life–especially my work life–can seem chaotic, amorphous, and somewhat out of control, having these rituals and other things help me feel like there’s at least one ordered part of my world.

These 30 days are providing me with another structure, another self-nurturing and grounding element to my day. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll be relieved when I’ve completed them. But this first week hasn’t gone too badly. I will suspend the fasting while I travel and do my work this weekend, but get back to it next week. I will be at a conference, so part of it will be a little tricky. But I will manage and get back into a groove when I get back home.

I’m signing out early this evening. Early morning plane to catch. May all beings be free from suffering and the causes of suffering. May we experience and know true happiness and peace. May it be so!